To yurt or not to yurt...

I don't believe that yurt is officially a verb but, in my recent freedom from the oppression of the often confusing rules of the English language, I feel totally comfortable using it as one. What is the definition of yurt as verb, you may ask. To yurt is to acquire, assemble, and abide in a portable, Mongolian tent while you are in limbo between the sale of your previous house and receiving the certificate of occupancy for your newly built house, which you cannot begin to build until you have sold your previous house because of the precarious state of the mortgage industry. At least that might be the definition in Howe dictionary. We will be "homeless" after the sale of our current house and yes I am anxious to be homeless because it will mean that we are one step closer to achieving our goal. So the dilemma is what to do for shelter when all we own is a five acre lot and a 90 square foot shed.

There are several options all with their individual strengths and weaknesses. The first and obvious option is to rent a place, be it a house, an apartment, or a mobile home temporarily located on the above mentioned five acre lot. This option may sound good to the logical level-headed portion of our society because it is a tried and true method of supplying temporary shelter. But to dreamers, like myself, it is too passe and the thought of renting any type of shelter after having owned a house for the past nine years is a hard pill to swallow especially if it is on another piece of land that is not the promised land (again the five acre lot to which I hold title).

The second option is to crash at the in-laws house. I say the in-laws house because whether we stay at Lesley's parent's house or my parent's house one of us will be living in our in-laws house. No matter how comfortable you are with your in-laws and no matter how good your relationship is it is always difficult to live with your in-laws. While one of us would be back in the comforts of the home we lived in before we were married, the other would be putting their stinky feet up on someone else's couch and worrying about over staying our welcome and trying not to totally destroy the rose colored image that the in-laws have of our family. I also am worried that if we live with Lesley's parents that Joyce might have ample time to convince Lesley that she shouldn't move "away" and I would have to kidnap Lesley and the children to get them out once the house is built.

The third option is to go yurting. Here is a link to a yurt manufacturer's website, for those of you who are not familiar with yurts and haven't googled them by now: http://www.yurts.com/ and here is a pic of one from off the yurt wiki page:

I have been working on getting Lesley convinced that this is our best (and most unique) option. My family thinks I'm crazy. My friends think I'm crazy. Lesly thinks I'm crazy. But I have camped in a yurt, thanks to Fort Tuthill campground in Northern Arizona and I think it will be a wonderful story to tell the grandkids. Might I remind you of the immortal words of Nephi, the son of Lehi: "And my father dwelt in a tent" - 1 Nephi 2:15. I am trying to get this adopted by my wife and children as our family scripture for the year. Other than have a scriptural reference as to why this should be our course of action, here are a few of my reasons for wanting to live in a yurt: 1) I would own the yurt. No renting, no borrowing, no having to explain to the land lord how the finger nail polish mural is actually an improvement to the drapery. 2) Who else can say they have lived in a yurt? enough said. 3) No one else will be erecting a 30 foot diameter tent at the 2009 father and son's (Aaronic Priesthood commemoration) campout. again enough said. 4) We would have the coolest guest quarters for when company comes into town. We could charge them admission. 5) Most importantly, when most people you know think you are crazy(not stupid) for wanting to try something off the beaten path, it's probably the exact thing you should do.

So in an effort to help convince Lesley that yurting is what we should do I am hosting a survey to see what everyone else thinks. So please vote, often and early, in my online poll. Also please feel free to speak your mind, in non-offensive language, in the comments section of this post.